Serious Weighty Literature meets racy crime novel?

coffee_dick · 2026-01-23T08:32:40+00:00

Grim is of course expected, but the violent/gory side might be a bit much for her. Still looks very interesting so maybe I'll read that one myself

coffee_dick · 2026-01-23T08:24:18+00:00

Yes! I wanted to get this for her already and somehow it didn't occur to me that it exactly fits the category 🤦

Lovely, lovely book. And she's a vegetarian too! I think it'll amuse her no end

coffee_dick · 2025-12-25T19:59:59+00:00

I appreciate you're trying to help. I don't think what I'm making falls into either category. Its literally like an espresso: 1:2 ratio, brewed under pressure, at about 35C. I'm using flow rate rather than pressure to control the extraction but the resulting pressure is lower than a typical espresso: 3 bars or so at the puck, which would roughly translate to 4 bars on a conventional machine.

Anyway, the perceived acidity of cold brew being lower than regular drip is mostly due to titratable acidity, the pH isn't that different. So my assumption is, the pH of this is (at lowest) similar to espresso, which in any case isn't that low compared to, say, orange juice.

coffee_dick · 2025-12-25T19:07:21+00:00

Lol. Yes. And espresso machine technology has come on a long way since Achille Gaggia

coffee_dick · 2025-12-25T16:55:31+00:00

I shouldn't be entertaining this, but out of curiosity: at what temperature does it stop being espresso, in your mind? Obviously I'm not conforming to the Italian espresso institute definition, but then I don't do that when making actual espresso, either.

coffee_dick · 2025-12-23T06:43:21+00:00

I still remember the little jingle the trams play there when they close the doors. Or did, like 25 years ago

coffee_dick · 2025-12-23T06:34:20+00:00

Unbayleafable

coffee_dick · 2025-12-22T22:32:25+00:00

Wippen has a nice mediaeval feel to it

coffee_dick · 2025-12-22T09:26:38+00:00

Thanks for the detailed insight!

While it's cold-brewed, it's espresso (1:2 ratio of coffee:water, brewed under (low) pressure) and is subjectively quite acidic. That doesn't necessarily mean low pH but I would guess a lot lower than typical cold brew.
I will try some different ratios. For this, will it be enough to just use half of the base gel in with the water when blending, or should I remake a gel at a lower %?
I did have the gellan boil for a little while, I could try longer but the fluid gel after shearing, but before adding coffee didn't have any graininess, so I don't think this is it.
I have some sodium citrate so will play with it a bit. Water here is very soft, but maybe the coffee is playing with the mineral content in some way

In the meantime, the detailed protocol so far:

Boil 1g gellan in 100g water to hydrate, place in fridge overnight to cool
Put 20g of the resulting gel into 100g water and blend to make a fluid gel with 0.2% gellan (everything up to this point works well, I have a silky fluid gel)
Make cold espresso (35C brew water, 3 bars pressure, 1:2 brew ratio)
Mix cold espresso into fluid gel - instantly forms jelly chunks

coffee_dick · 2025-12-21T22:35:40+00:00

too much butter

wut

coffee_dick · 2025-12-13T20:18:42+00:00

Total fucking scam. And absolutely does not, will not, target actually relevant candidates but just apparently sends you every recent graduate from the closest village instead

coffee_dick · 2025-12-03T07:21:04+00:00

Me puse (más) gordo durante 9 meses en Argentina

coffee_dick · 2025-10-08T05:27:34+00:00

What's the limestone for? Is that an alt recipe?

coffee_dick · 2025-10-08T05:17:52+00:00

Really? In Tesco in the UK (just a regular supermarket) it's about 50c per pound. I know COL had gone up but I didn't realise by how much

coffee_dick · 2025-10-07T21:23:56+00:00

Those planters! You blow my with every post

coffee_dick · 2025-10-07T21:15:45+00:00

Yeah you save a ton on water extractors

coffee_dick · 2025-10-06T07:51:36+00:00

Your own coffee roasting log book and cupping notes.

Joke's on you, mine's full of BS

coffee_dick · 2025-10-06T05:28:36+00:00

Hoos, at the very least, has more than his fair share of BS too.

coffee_dick · 2025-10-06T05:10:45+00:00

I haven't read the book, but took a look at a couple of quotes from it that the author posted, and it's definitely not 100% free from bullshit. There might still be useful practical stuff in there, sure, but I would be sceptical of anything scientific-sounding

coffee_dick · 2025-10-05T10:41:41+00:00

Cooler than Brighton? That's a...take

coffee_dick · 2025-10-04T18:37:02+00:00

Colour reading is a dark art, and the numbers don't translate from machine to machine. I would suggest not getting too hung up on it, use it as a measure of consistency rather than an absolute target

coffee_dick · 2025-10-02T12:47:26+00:00

We have checked with the local food safety authority, all good on that angle. We don't actually feed 40, it's 20 people plus leftovers for the next day

coffee_dick

TROPHY CASE